Should Racing Take the Week Before Xmas 2009 Off?

[stu]

Either by design or weather, several tracks have taken multiple days off before Christmas Day this year. No TB/QH track was scheduled for either the 24th or 25th.

Should racing authorities plan the same next year when Christmas Day falls on a Friday? Should all tracks agree not to race on all of the following days:

Monday, December 21, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009

From the financial world, there are 9 trading holidays observed by Nasdaq and NYSE not counting weekends.

From the sports worlds, Nascar takes December and January off. The PGA Tour takes November and December off. The ATP takes December off.

Would a coordinated 5-day break be good for the game/sport/trade?

[pktruckdriver]

Why just 1 week , why not 2 weeks?


Just a thought.



Patrick

[JustRalph]

If I read the chart right, HOL had about 6 million reasons to stay open today alone.

[Frontenac]

I think the Christmas racing just adds to the Holiday atmoshpere.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire etc. etc :jump:

[trying2win]

Either by design or weather, several tracks have taken multiple days off before Christmas Day this year. No TB/QH track was scheduled for either the 24th or 25th.

It's too bad there's no thoroughbred racing scheduled for Dec. 24 this year. If I remember correctly, Philadelphia Park and Calder used to have cards this day on a regular basis. I ordinarily don't bet on those tracks during the year, but it would have been nice to make an exception if they were running on Dec. 24. Alas, not this year. Oh well, all is not lost for those who would still like some racing action on this day. There is still the odd harness track (MONTICELLO) and a few greyhound tracks like TWIN RIVER, DERBY LANE, ORANGE PARK AND PALM BEACH scheduled to operate on Dec. 24 this week :).

T2W

[stu]

Maybe I asked the wrong question.

Should NYRA have taken the holiday break in 2008?

[NoCal Boy]

yes

Maybe I asked the wrong question.


Should NYRA have taken the holiday break in 2008?

[OTM Al]

Maybe I asked the wrong question.

Should NYRA have taken the holiday break in 2008?


They have for as long as I can recall. Not sure if it is volunatry or if some of it is mandated by NYS law ala Palm and Easter Sundays

[oddsmaven]

My wife would like to see an even longer extended break!

[jballscalls]

I like the idea of taking a break, i know personally after a break i'm always that much more excited and pumped to get back to racing.

however for the sake of employees who are hourly types as well as the horseman, its tough to tell them, ehh, no work for a week.

[Tom Barrister]

I have a better idea. Racing should race the week of Christmas and take the other 51 weeks off. While they're down, they can work on improving their marketing and customer relations, among other things.

[cj]

They have for as long as I can recall. Not sure if it is volunatry or if some of it is mandated by NYS law ala Palm and Easter Sundays

I don't seem to remember the break being near as long as it has been the past couple years, but I could be wrong.

[cj]

It's too bad there's no thoroughbred racing scheduled for Dec. 24 this year. If I remember correctly, Philadelphia Park and Calder used to have cards this day on a regular basis. I ordinarily don't bet on those tracks during the year, but it would have been nice to make an exception if they were running on Dec. 24. Alas, not this year. Oh well, all is not lost for those who would still like some racing action on this day. There is still the odd harness track (MONTICELLO) and a few greyhound tracks like TWIN RIVER, DERBY LANE, ORANGE PARK AND PALM BEACH scheduled to operate on Dec. 24 this week :).

T2W

Calder used to run on Christmas!

[OTM Al]

I don't seem to remember the break being near as long as it has been the past couple years, but I could be wrong.

I think it is shorter or longer depending what day Christmas falls on as they start back the day after. If its a Monday or Tuesday then it will be a short break, but any other day is going to make it a bit longer.

[point given]

There's too much winter racing as it is. I would support racing being a warm weather sport like golf. Cold weather would be for the casinos for jan. and feb. with racing only in the warm weather climates and likewise during the summer when warm weather sites would close. The likeliness of this happening , nil. But if there is all this talk about switching to polytrack for the safety of horses and jocks , then a natural extension might just support this concept. I wonder if there is a study of the number of breakdowns and jock injuries during extreme weather condition meets vs normal weather meets.

As regards your question on christmas holiday breaks, I thing NYRA is correct in having the break. This sorta thing freshens up both equine and human connections. The southern tracks should pick up the slack during their primetime of year meets . Just common sense to me.

[Norm]

Maybe I asked the wrong question.

Should NYRA have taken the holiday break in 2008?
I think the break at AQU is longer than what would make any sense. Maybe it's to conserve allotted racing days ?? It's not like everybody at the track is getting a vacation; the horses have to be taken care of EVERY day including Christmas Day. Horses need to be fed and groomed. Stalls need to be mucked each day. Grandstand vendors and racetrack employees get a forced vacation but the horsemen don't get time off from their daily duties. Jockeys don't get paid unless they ride, it forces them to head south. Anyone know if the track is open for exercise or training during the break?

[Bubba X]

Calder used to run on Christmas!And a horse named Santa Claus won on X-Mas Eve at Fair Grounds in the early 80's.

[The Hawk]

The break should be longer, like it used to be back when racing was actually popular. It builds up excitement and anticipation, not just in NY but other areas, as bettors would look forward to the return, maybe with more money to wager. The purse money saved could go into races that deserve more money, and maybe some work could be put into dressing up the tracks some. As it stands, places like NY, Philly, Maryland run year round and there is nothing special about any of the opening days, except for Saratoga, and even that's not nearly what it was.

There would be bigger fields and better purses. Tampa, Gulfstream, Oaklawn and Fair Grounds would have improved products. And maybe there'd be more press coverage if there weren't 50 races a week, every week, all year long. That's what the dog tracks and jai alai frontons do, and now that our industry does the same all over we're starting to get the same kind of coverage as those games do -- none.

The horsemen, of course, would revolt, since they wouldn't be getting checks for running 3rd in 6-horse fields all year long. But with the game in perennial crisis, don't we need change? A long break would address several issues that many horseplayers point to as some of the biggest problems in the game, from our perspective.

[Norm]

Anyone know if the track is open for exercise or training during the break?
O.K., I can now answer my own question. I now have the past performances for Friday's races and I see that workouts were posted on the inner track during the break. So who got time off ? Not the horsemen, they have their chores to perform no matter what, or the exercise riders. The track maintenance crew must have been on the job for the workouts, and the clockers. So the mutual clerks, vendors, front office personnel and assorted track employees were off. Seems like the jockeys get the worst of it. They have to go elsewhere to find rides to make some money. Seems to me, if you are going to schedule a meet, it should be without interruption. People depend on it for the income. It's bad enough when the weather forces cancellations without making it worse with extended closings. The AQU inner track meet is a popular race meet here in this region, so the long break is not making the bettors happy.

[BlueShoe]

If memory is correct,once upon a time Tropical Park actually raced on Christmas day.In a more modern vein,in the 70's Los Alamitos raced quarters on Christmas night after being dark Christmas Eve.I know,I was there.However,do agree that racing should now take the time off.Perhaps just to cool off the seats before December 26,but the break would not be a bad idea.

[Marshall Bennett]

Don't your larger venues take Mondays and Tuesdays off as it is . Add to that numerous cancellations . That adds up to well over a hundred days off in a calender year for those circuits . How much down time do you need ?

[JustRalph]

I wish I would have taken the day off today....... :lol:

I got whacked pretty good ............. :bang:

[BlueShoe]

For those of you that like to swing for the fences and have something to look forward to,Hawthorne and Aqueduct both have big pick 6 carryovers waiting on Friday December 26.

[2low]

I'm already looking forward to the 26th. I'll be getting SA ready to go for a week or so and then I'm up and running on the 5 tracks I plan to play to start the new year. I hope I can handle 5:ThmbUp:

[boomman]

And a horse named Santa Claus won on X-Mas Eve at Fair Grounds in the early 80's.

And a horse named "Easter Runner" won on an Easter Sunday @ Turf Paradise while the rider (Mike McMullen) had bunny ears taped to his jockey's helmet!
TRUE STORY!

;) Boomer

[The Hawk]

For those of you that like to swing for the fences and have something to look forward to,Hawthorne and Aqueduct both have big pick 6 carryovers waiting on Friday December 26.

Even bigger than those is Hawthorne's carryover, I think. It's around $250K, and they're back on Friday, too.

[BlueShoe]

Believe that the number is 227k and change.Lets just round it off and say quarter of a Mil.It has accumalated for something like two weeks,Hawthorne form in their on again off again snowstorms has been real wacky.